Agitator truck body



July 17, 1934. c J U 1,966,502

AGITATOR TRUCK BODY File M y 16, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F 7 J 5 5 MIME/470R. CHE/.5 rm A/ J /06.

4 zW-M C. J. HUG

AGITATOR TRUCK BODY Fiied May 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 rap/mg Patented July 17, 1934 nseasoz AGITATOR TRUCK Bony Christian J. Hug, Highland, Ill. Apnlication May- 16, .19 2, .Serial No. .611,'604

Y 1 0mm. c1.'s3-"'1s) invention has relation. to improvements in agitator: truck bodies, primarily adapted for-use in;-hauling concrete from a; central mixing plant tether variousjjobs on which itisto be used, '5; --It isv amatter of'oommon knowledge; among those engaged in concrete work that-when mixed:

concrete "is hauled in an ordinary truck body there is a tendency forthewater and the cement to; segregate from the coarse *aggregate, which '19.; sinks to;the bottom and-adheres:to thewall; of

the'truckbody. This; of course, is not only detrimental'toathe mixture, but makes the unloading operatiomd'irficult because-of the fact that the adheting cement must: bescraped' from the surface lgi of: the body.

It: is;-:tlrus :the'- object "ofthe present: invention tdprovide means for maintaining-the mixed concrete K in a state cf 1 mild-agitation while being transported in; a truck 'bo'dy so that the ingrego; die'nts of the concrete'willvbe-as thoroughly mixed whentlie concretearrives on-the. job as when it was 'placed into the truck. A further object of thesinventiorr is! to/provide'a series of agitators, whichwalso embody the functionof scrapersto '25 prevent.- the; cement from adhering to the inner surf-ace 'of' thetruck body, said scrapers being resiliently mounted so that they will. yield if any pieces of-aggregate become wedged-between them and. thejbodyof 1 the. truck; instead 'of' crushing .39; the aggregate. It is also the objectv of' the invention toprovidelagitators' of varying lengths so that their stirring- 'efiect will be distributed: en-

tirelysthroughout. the mass "of concrete in the truck-body. The stirring action- :is furtherin- 35 creased" by: giving the agitator arms a'definite pitch so that they will have a certain lifting effect on the contents bf the truck, thusproviding effective agitation tan a comparatively slow motion.

A further-object of the 'inventionis to obtain Q; the desired results by a" construction that isboth simpleand-"rug ged, tOiWhiOh6nd the agitators com r se he eo p in e hea h' ch s clamped to the agitator shaft at an intermediate pointgto provide 4 along and afshortagitator arm. It is a further object of theinvention to mount the agitators 'on' a shaftsupported in thtruck body and'pro vide'theshaftbearings with aneffec-v tive packing to preventleakage of the water from th hick- A. iu-rth r obes s d a: i 'gate at the' discharge end 'of' thetruck-that: is operated-by aseries-'of 'levers so. that it maybe held inopenpositiontolany extent desired-5 These, as wel-laas otherudvantages of 'the invention; .will

65: be better-iapparent fiom 'd detailed description of the invention .in connection panying drawings, in which:

vFi re 1 is acombined sidee1evation...and .ver-

tical-. ;longitudina1 sect-ion of a truck equippedwith the acc om with my improved agitator-body; 2. .a 6,9,

side l v t o of t e k; k n a he s des?- positewt that showninjig. .lj .Fig. 3 .is, an end elevation-pf the truck equipped with -my .im-' proved; agitator body; Fig; 4 is a vertical. crosssection .through; the: truck body. takenuon a plane 65 indicated-by the-line 44, of -Eig-..l;,Fig..5 ,a vertical-cross-section throughv the truck body. taken .on. a plane indicated bythe line of; Fig. l rFighfi is a. fragment of the truck bodyand endagitator. arm (on .an, enlarged scale.)v show-. 7 0 ing: how said .agi tator..also. operates. .as,-a scraper to.- keepthe corner. .of the truckebody freefrom accumulations; .Fig '1. .is a view; looking at the end of the agitator arm shown inIEig. .6;"Eig.K.8 is=a diagrammatic-view showingthe. arrangement, ,of (5 the agitatorlarms withinzthe, truck .body; Fig. 9 is.-a. de.tai1 views showing the.,clamp which holds the-agitator-tarm, to. the shaft; Fig. 10 is n a sec-v tional detailtaken on the line 10-.-10,of 'Fig. 9; Fig. 11, isanendview of .the clamp for holdingthe agi-., so tator.arm, said-arm beingshownin section; Fig. 12. -is..a middle. cross-section through the-clamp taken-on the line 1 2- 1-2 .of Fig, 9 the shaft remaining. in elevation; and Fig. .13 is. a- CI'QSS:SeC-. tion- ,taken. on .a medial plane through the shaft 5 bearing-and'packing secured toLtheend walLo'f v the truck body. Referring-tattle. drawings, Trlepresents a truck, thelchassjis of which. is, provided, with, the, ,',cus toma'ryni ramenmembersv1,. 1. on. whichgare disk. 99. posed a series .of sills. 2,. 2101' supportingthetnuck body .3 when the same. is in its kno rmal position for transporting aload. .The bodyB is. alsq .supported .'by. suitable bracket hand pin connections 3, 3 whereby it..may be. tilted. to facilitate the 95.

dumping: of the. load through the tail. gate. 4 arranged .ontthe rearwall' 5} of said b.0dy.. arrangement f ortilting the truck body is old in t he art and-requires no specif c explanation. The inen on he iewnc n darti ar with th 1 0 means ,foragitating the-truck body Qontents 'ordinarily=concrete,=together with, themechanis n for operating. said agitating; means. 7 I r I Theagitator includes; ayshait 6 mounted in bearings'k'i secured *on;the outside. of endwalls '105 5, 5.;ofithe truckbody. The forward end ofshaft 6icarries a. sprocket wheel 8 adapted to..be driven by. a sprocket .pinion 9 through-the .mediumof a sprocket chain 10. The sprocket pinion 9 is suitablyfix'ed ona stub shaftkll which forms apartof 9 the reducing gear set housed in the casing 12 and is not shown in detail as such gear sets are old in the art and can be purchased on the open market. There is a second shaft 13 projecting from the casing 12 connected by means of a universal joint 14 to a shaft 15 mounted on the side of the truck body B (Fig. 2). The shaft 15 is also connected by means of a universal joint 16 to a flexible shaft 17 which bends downwardly past the pivotal axis of the truck body underneath the truck chassis where it is supported by means of a bracket 18. The flexible shaft 17 is connected adjacent to bracket 18 by means of a universal joint 19 to a shaft 20 which extends forwardly to the transmission case 21, from which a stub shaft 22 projects for connection with the shaft 20 through a universal joint 23. The driving of auxiliary machinery from the truck transmission is old and is not claimed herein per se, nor illustrated in detail, but the utilizing of a flexible element in the drive shaft in a tilting truck body is believed to be new.

There are a plurality (in the present instance, 11) of agitator bars 24, 25, 26 and 24 mounted, rigidly on the shaft 6 by means of clamps C. Each agitator bar, it will be observed, is secured in a clamp C intermediate its ends so that each bar in effect constitutes two agitator arms, one

of which is longer than the other. Thus the end. bars 24 and 24', which are identical except that.

they are right and left respectively, each comprise a long agitator arm at having a substantially horizontal component b bent at right angles to the component a and of a length so that the end of component b will operate in the corner between end wall 5 or 5 and cylindrical wall 5" of the body B and serve the function of a scraper to prevent accumulations of concrete in this corner. The short arm d of each of the bars 24, 24 is bent in the shape of a comparatively flat ogee curve so that a scraping component 6 is provided which operates in close proximity to the truck body end wall and serves to scrape any accumulations of concrete adhering to this wall. Adjacent to the bars 24 and 24, which, as we have seen, serve as scrapers as well as agitators, are bars 25, 25 identical in shape and each having both agitator arms I and f of the same length, although the extremity of arm terminates in a horizontal component g considerably longer than the horizontal component 9 terminating the arm It will also be observed (Fig. 8) that the curvature of the are connecting horizontal component g with arm 1 is not as sharp as the curvature of the are connecting horizontal component 9' with the arm 1. The reason for this is that the component 9 operates in close proximity to the cylindrical wall of the truck body and serves the purpose of a scraper to remove adhering conv crete therefrom, while the component 9' serves merely as an agitator and does not perform any scraping function. In fact, all of the bars except those operating in proximity to the end walls of v the truck body have one arm which serves as a scraper and an agitator, while the opposite arm (the shorter of the two) serves only as an agitator. The intermediate bars 26 (of which there are '7) are all identical, each having a long arm h and a short arm h, the short arm terminating in a curved component 1' to serve the function of an agitator and the long arm terminating in a horizontal component 7c operating in proximity to the cylindrical wall of the body B in serving as a scraper therefor as well as an agitator.

From the foregoing description it can be readily seen that the arrangement and lengths of the agitator arms is such that in addition to serving to agitate and stir the contents of the tank body they also serve to scrape the inner surface of said tank body so as to prevent accumulations of cement on both the end walls and the cylindrical wall thereof. In order that the function of the arms 24, 25 and 26 as agitators may be carried out with=maximum efficiency it will be observed that the-bars are all secured in the clamp C so that they are inclined or pitched with respect to the longitudinal axis of shaft 6. That is, they do not lie in planes at right angles to the shaft but they lie in planes making an angle with the shaft of less than degrees. This is readily apparent from an inspection of Figs. 9 to 12 inclusive wherein the clamp C securing the bars is shown in detail. This clamp comprises members 30 and 31 provided respectively with semi-circular seats 30', 31 for encircling shaft 6, the member 30 together with a holding member 32 serving to clamp the bars 24, 25 or 26, as the case may be. The lateral. component 33 of member 32 is pro-' vided with a flange 33 and the clamp member 30 is provided with a flange 34 offset from the flange 33', which flanges together with inclined edges 35, 35 of the ends 36, 36 of the holding member determine the angularity of the bar 2 1 (25 or 26) as said bar is held in recesses 1', 1" formed between flanges 33, 3 1 and inclined edge 35 by means of bolts 37, 37 which maintain all offtheclamp elements and the bar securely fixed to theshaft 6, as shown in Figs. 9 to 12 inclusive. In order that there may be no leakage of .the liquid from the tank body B through the end 1 1i wall openings for the shaft 6, I provide a packing housing 38 on the inner surfaces of the end walls 5, 5', said housings being secured by means of bolts 39 which also hold the bearings 7, 7 in place. This housing 38 is more or less in the shape of a 1.15 hollow cone having a central opening 40 to accommodate the shaft 6, the inner edge of said opening 40 being provided with a flange 41. A gland 42 is set-screwed or otherwise secured to the shaft 6 and projects partly into the opening 40 of the conical housing 38. A'beveled shoulder 43 is provided on the inner end of. gland 42 between which and flange 41 suitable packing material 44 is tightly wedged. The packing 44 prevents the leakage of liquid through the opening 40 past the shaft bearing and the .pressure of the material within the tank body serves only to wedge the packing more tightly against the shoulder 4'3 (Fig. 13). Thus there is no opportunity for leakage from the tank through or past the shaft bearings. The operation of my improved agitator truck body is obvious from the foregoing description. When the truck engine is running the shaft 6 will be slowly rotated by virtue of its connection with the truck transmission and carry around with it in itsrotation the bars 24, 24', 25'and 26. The agitator arms will stir the truck contents and agitate the same continually so that the heavier ingredients of concrete will not settle to the bottom of the tank body. In addition to agitating the concrete the arms terminating in the scraper elements, as above described, will prevent any accumulations of concrete or cement on the ments and the tank walls during the operation of the scrapers the agitator arms will yield owing 15p to their inherent springiness and quickly release such wedged pieces of aggregate without grinding the same. It will also be observed that the lagging edge of the scraper element has a greater the necessity of hand labor for scraping the walls of the tank clean as is now commonly done.

Having described my invention I claim: In a tank body for motor trucks, an agitator comprising a shaft, means for rotating said shaft,

and a flexible agitator arm fixed to said shaft and pitched at an angle with respect to the plane of rotation of said arm, a laterally extending scraper component on one end of said arm disposed in close proximity to the'side wall of the tank body, and an offset portion at the other end of said arm forming a second scraper element disposed in close proximity to the end wall of said tank body.

CHRISTIAN J. HUG. 

